688 



SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



The differences that puzzle may be little or great, but when the sorri have 

 been examined all doubts will be set aside. 



There are about three thousand varieties of ferns known, and we give 

 a few illustrations of them, although any detailed description is out of tile 

 question, for we have to mention the beautiful mosses of which there are in 

 Britain more than five hundred different species, all extremely beautiful, 

 perfectly innocuous, and even beneficial. 



Fig. 817. Club-* 

 moss. 



Fig. 816. .Diatoma vulgaris. 



THE MOSSES AND ALG.E. 



These plants are extremely lowly in the score of creation, and also in 



stature. Very few mosses attain any eleva- 

 tion, only the "sporangia" 

 shoot up, and the plants are 

 very delicately formed, the 

 leaves being all of the same 

 pattern. They are common in 

 damp situations, and thrive in 

 woods, streams, and banks. 

 The Fontinalis is a river moss, 

 while the Hypnum is found in 

 hedges. The Lycopodiaceae 

 or the club-moss family is in- 

 termediate between ferns and mosses. 

 They are found in warm, moist climates, and contain a sort of brimstone, 

 They grow well with ferns under glass. 



The Musci or moss-family proper are useful in various ways. We have 

 also the liverworts, which bear some resemblance to lichens. They grow 

 between stones near water, or in damp situations. There are two distinct 

 families, both beautiful when examined, and 

 are named Marchantiaceae, and Jungeraman- 

 niaceae, or scale moss. 



The Thallogens or Thal- 

 logenae include algae, lichens, 

 and fungi, which are the low- 

 est of the plants, and all very 

 much alike. The algae are 

 termed "protophytes," and 

 consist of living cells propa- 

 gating by subdivision, or union. The thal- 

 logens have therefore no distinct axes, leaves, 



Fig. 819. Various diatomaceae. 



or stomata. 



The algae are thus simply cellular plants found in salt or fresh water, 

 hot and cold. They sometimes appear as "slime." Some contain silicia, 

 and are termed Diatomacecs^ and these propagate by subdivision, and when 



Fig. 818. Scale- 

 moss. 



